Minor League Crew Consultation Ejection

[Lindsay]

Minor league umpires Isabella Robb and Stone Garver tag teamed a silent treatment ejection in High-A after Peoria Chiefs manager Patrick Anderson refused to stop arguing over a backswing contact strikeout call made after consultation.

With none out and none on in the top of the 9th inning of Sunday's Chiefs-Timber Rattlers game, Chiefs batter Tre Richardson swung at a 2-2 pitch from Timber Rattlers pitcher Tyler Wehrle, initially ruled a dead ball by HP Umpire Robb before resulting in an unintentional contact backswing strikeout upon crew consultation with 1B Umpire Garver.

Official Baseball Rule 6.03(a) specifies the case of backswing contact: "If a batter strikes at a ball and misses and swings so hard they carry the bat all the way around and, in the umpire’s judgment, unintentionally hit the catcher or the ball in back of them on the backswing, it shall be called a strike only (not interference). The ball will be dead, however, and no runner shall advance on the play."

Note: In high school, NFHS deems this follow-through interference.

After umpires concluded that Richardson's bat knocked the ball out of Wisconsin catcher Matthew Wood's mitt, Robb signaled the batter out, leading to Anderson's extended argument, culminating in a post-ejection silent treatment method of situation handling as the skipper tired himself out.

OBR 8.02(c) prohibits arguing a call changed after crew consultation: "No player, manager or coach shall be permitted to argue the exercise of the umpires’ discretion in resolving the play and any person so arguing shall be subject to ejection."

Video as follows:
Alternate Link: Robb ejects Anderson after manager refuses to stop arguing changed call

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[The Man in Blue]

Interesting conundrum in a two-person crew.

"I want to talk to THAT GUY!"

"No, you need to talk to me."

Until you are tired of it and then who has to come take him off . . . THAT GUY!

 

On a side note . . . is it possible to find out umpiring assignment ahead of time in High-A?  We haven't been to a Peoria Chiefs game in a while, and I'd like to take my daughter to go watch Isabella Robb umpire.

[SeeingEyeDog]

@The Man in Blue, if you find out about Low-A slot assignments, please let me know as I would like to take my daughter to see Robb as well...

I thought they let this go on too long. Once he's ejected, fine..."money's worth" but if they are refusing to leave and prolonging the argument, the ejecting umpire needs to stroll toward the team's ejected to naturally draw the ejected person in that direction and then the crew chief or another non-ejecting umpire can professionally move in, complete the escort off the field and allow the ejecting umpire to peel off.

If there was a crew consult and the ejecting umpire was overturned the other umpire(s) do NOT need to engage with the coach or player about their information, what they saw, or anything else. The play has been adjudicated. The play is over. In this case, the coach has been ejected and that is the current "piece of business" for the crew.

~Dawg

[beerguy55]

Typically at most amateur levels, leagues and tourneys there is an additional penalty for not leaving immediately after an ejection (I've even seen 60 second time limits to be "out of the facility")....fines to the team, additional suspensions, forfeit, whatever it may be.

So why do the minor league levels allow the managers to "get their money's worth?" ...you're ejected...F*#K off.

The dynamic in MLB may be harder to implement and enforce, but really, that's the place to start with it.  When you stop seeing Aaron Boone and Earl Weaver-type goat shows, you're less likely to get the lower level coaches being inspired by the behavior.

[grayhawk]

3 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

I thought they let this go on too long. Once he's ejected, fine..."money's worth" but if they are refusing to leave and prolonging the argument, the ejecting umpire needs to stroll toward the team's ejected to naturally draw the ejected person in that direction and then the crew chief or another non-ejecting umpire can professionally move in, complete the escort off the field and allow the ejecting umpire to peel off.

The thing is, the reason the manager was ejected was because he wanted to talk to BU about why he "overturned" PU. So if he comes in, he is just giving him what he wants. I thought he waited an appropriate amount of time once he realized the manager wasn't going to leave. Giving the silent treatment was perfect.

If this was a 3 umpire crew, I would guess the 3B umpire would've come in much sooner to rodeo clown this moron off the field.

[Velho]

1 hour ago, beerguy55 said:

Typically at most amateur levels

That is for sport

1 hour ago, beerguy55 said:

So why do the minor league levels allow the managers to "get their money's worth?" [snip] The dynamic in MLB may be harder to implement

That is for entertainment

1 hour ago, beerguy55 said:

Aaron Boone and Earl Weaver-type goat shows

 

[SeeingEyeDog]

7 hours ago, beerguy55 said:

Typically at most amateur levels, leagues and tourneys there is an additional penalty for not leaving immediately after an ejection (I've even seen 60 second time limits to be "out of the facility")....fines to the team, additional suspensions, forfeit, whatever it may be.

So why do the minor league levels allow the managers to "get their money's worth?" ...you're ejected...F*#K off.

The dynamic in MLB may be harder to implement and enforce, but really, that's the place to start with it.  When you stop seeing Aaron Boone and Earl Weaver-type goat shows, you're less likely to get the lower level coaches being inspired by the behavior.

As an umpire, this is my BIGGEST complaint with the game. A coach or player "getting their money's worth". No! You are ejected! You're terrible! You're horrible! Get better! Get out of here and go figure it out! Go figure out how to participate in or coach in a PROFESSIONAL baseball game without getting ejected! We're pushing pace of play here and you're slowing us down!

As @Velho said...it's for entertainment. I will go one step further...fans enjoy seeing umpires getting verbally abused. It's better than it used to be but, again...as an umpire and a baseball fan, I am NOT entertained by seeing or hearing a grown man who NAILED a pitch on the edge of the zone, getting verbally abused, then ejecting the abuser and then getting verbally abused again.

MLB could fix this tomorrow but, they are in the entertainment business and not the "what is fair to the umpires" business...
 

@grayhawk, honestly brother...cry me a river about what players and coaches think they are entitled to with regards to a ruling and final adjudication. In this particular case, it's very easy to determine plate missed it, U1 saw it and they called backswing interference. This is not nuanced or irregular. Now if it's a base awards situation like on an overthrow going out of play and there is confusion about the award, sure...talk to coach and give him a bit more context about the ruling. Perhaps there's a question about TOP versus TOT...

~Dawg

[grayhawk]

8 minutes ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

honestly brother...cry me a river about what players and coaches think they are entitled to with regards to a ruling and final adjudication.

I think you misread what I was meaning to say. BU waited to come in precisely to avoid giving the manager what he wanted or thought he was entitled to. BU was hoping PU could take out the trash on her own, but when the trash dug his heels in and showed that he wasn't going anywhere, BU finally had to come in, act like he was listening to the manager (while giving him NOTHING in return), and then watching said manager exit the field.

Call this a "gap" in the 2 umpire system, when the rodeo clown is also part of the reason the ejectee was upset in the first place.

[dumbdumb]

8 hours ago, beerguy55 said:

Typically at most amateur levels, leagues and tourneys there is an additional penalty for not leaving immediately after an ejection (I've even seen 60 second time limits to be "out of the facility")....fines to the team, additional suspensions, forfeit, whatever it may be.

So why do the minor league levels allow the managers to "get their money's worth?" ...you're ejected...F*#K off.

The dynamic in MLB may be harder to implement and enforce, but really, that's the place to start with it.  When you stop seeing Aaron Boone and Earl Weaver-type goat shows, you're less likely to get the lower level coaches being inspired by the behavior.

it starts at the top in mlb. if they fine them more money and suspend them more often and for longer amounts of time, that would help. obviously they either do not have the intestinal fortitude to stop it , or they do not want to stop it.

there are some old day stories of calling the police down to the field to remove the manager in milb back in the day, as told by the old umpire school guy that i ran into that said he quietly asked questions on the side that he knew he should not ask, but he knew he wasn't going to get a job anyway.